The Pleasure of the Dean

The Pleasure of the
Dean

By Ann Marie Nelson

Copyright © 2014 by Ann Marie Nelson
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

LWL Publishing
Seattle, WA

http://annmarienelson.blogspot.com

This is a work
of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are
either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely
coincidental.

Dedicated to
the bureaucracy

Chapter One

All faculty, staff, residents,
fellows, and medical students in the University of Seattle, School of Medicine,
serve at the pleasure of the Dean.
 
Only the Dean has the authority to hire and/or terminate their
appointments.

Sophie reread the passage for the 50th time
before burying her face in her hands, dejected.
 
This was her last hope.
 
Two policy sentences on the School of
Medicine’s website were all that stood between her and being kicked out of her
residency program.
 
Well, two policy
sentences and the Dean.

A year ago, Sophie started taking shifts at
an urgent care clinic on Bainbridge Island.
 
The stipend she received as a resident
barely covered her student loan payments, rent on her tiny apartment, and the
debt accumulated during her mother’s long illness.
  
Desperate for additional income,
Sophie decided to find outside work even though she knew US School of Medicine
policy strictly forbade residents from moonlighting.
 
She began working
four
hour
shifts, two days a week, at the urgent care clinic.
 
The $1,000 each month in extra income
was a godsend.

Then Dr. Bruce Mapleton, the General Internal
Medicine Residency Director, found out and put Sophie on probation.

Sophie had worked her butt off to get into
the University of Seattle’s Internal Medicine residency program.
 
Even though she’d done her undergraduate
pre-med studies and received her MD through their prestigious medical school,
being in-house was no guarantee of getting into the elite residency
program.
 
Some people were of the
opinion it hurt her chances rather than helped them, since programs typically
like to see diversity in applicant’s schooling.

Every medical school graduate was required to
complete an accredited residency program in order to practice medicine.
 
The more prestigious the hospital, the
more job offers a resident might receive
 
after completing the program.
 
New MD’s from all over the world tried to get into the two-year programs
at the Seattle hospital, even though space was extremely limited.
 
The US was known all over the country
for its
well funded
research programs and its
innovative leadership in a wide variety of medical specialties.
 
They only accepted about 5% of
applicants into their Residency programs.
 

Sophie twisted locks of her long blond hair
between her fingers and remembered how proud her mother had been the day she
was accepted into college.
   
Sophie had held up her acceptance letter standing in mom’s tiny
kitchen.
 
They both traced their
fingers over the embossed seal logo of the University.
 

“My girl, my baby girl is going to be a big
success!”
 
Her mom’s eyes misted
over.
 
“I’m so proud of you.”

Sophie teared up remembering.
 
She missed her mom so much.
 

Pushing back sad memories, Sophie focused on
the crisis she was facing now.
 
Getting kicked out the residency program would be a disaster.

For some reason, after three months on
probation she was being dropped from the program.
 
The Director wouldn’t even tell her
why.
 
Only that she, “Wasn’t a
reflection of University of Seattle’s standards.”

Sophie scoffed at that.
 
She was an excellent physician.
 
Patients gave her the highest clinical
care scores.
 
Sophie had not broken
a single rule since she was caught moonlighting.
 
She even volunteered to take on
additional shifts in order to get in the Director’s good graces; all to no
avail.
 
Sophie had a feeling Dr.
Mapleton, whom the residents secretly called “The Leprechaun” due to his short
stature, prominent moustache, and smarmy personality, simply had it out for
her.

Sophie knew what she needed to do.
 
She had to make an appeal to the Dean himself.
 

Chapter Two

Sophie walked the labyrinthine corridors of
the University of Seattle Medical Complex.
 
The structure was built south of the main college campus, a sprawling
behemoth of interconnected research and teaching wings, all connecting up with
the large public hospital.
 
The
complex was bordered on the other side by Lake Washington.
 
It boasted beautiful views of the
Seattle skyline and local mountain ranges.
 

Sophie was glad she was wearing her running
shoes.
 
The building was known for
being so large one could clock five miles in a day if they had to walk to
several different offices.
 
The
hospital’s long corridors and the lifestyle of a resident, being on your feet
for twelve hours at a time, had transformed Sophie's body.
 
She was in the best shape of her life,
her limbs long and lean from constant movement and the mini-yoga breaks she had
trained herself to take whenever possible to keep herself loose.

She stopped outside the Dean’s office
suite.
 
Sophie felt nerves build up
in her stomach.
 
Dean Armstrong
always seemed like a nice guy, but he was very intimidating.
 
He was so perfect.
 
And it didn’t help that the Dean was
drop-dead gorgeous, a fact that unexpectedly made Sophie feel like a
tongue-tied teenager whenever she saw him.

Gathering her courage she walked through the
heavy frosted glass double doors.
 
The open suite featured a comfortable waiting area stocked with the
latest Medical School pamphlets and an enormous desk in the middle of the room
where a small, middle-aged woman sat.
 
She had a complex computer set up at her desk with two monitors
projecting different scheduling software, plus stacks and stacks of
multi-colored files piled up around her.
 
She was paying no attention to the work at her desk, and instead was deeply
concentrating on a mass of yarn, knitting fast and furious with deep blue
wool.
 
A brass name placard on her
desk read “Kelsey Briars.”

Sophie waited patiently, but Kelsey continued
to ignore her and knit.
 
Watching
her fast hands work the yarn in and out was hypnotizing, but Sophie reminded
herself she was on a mission.
 
“Excuse me?” Sophie said tentatively.

“Yes dear, what can I help you with?”
 
The woman kept her head bent to her
task, not even looking up at her.
 
Sophie continued to stare at the top of Kelsey’s head.
 
She noticed her gray-streaked dark hair
was piled in a messy knot, held in place by a solo knitting needle.

“I need to see Dean Armstrong.
 
I’m Sophie Benedict… Dr. Sophie
Benedict.
 
I have an extremely
urgent matter to discuss with him.”
 

“Sorry Doctor.
 
The Dean is all booked up,” Kelsey said,
without checking the schedules displayed on her monitors.
 
In fact, she had yet to look up at
Sophie.

“But I really, really need to see him,”
Sophie argued.
 
“It’s urgent.
 
My life is at stake!”
 

The odd woman finally set her needles down
and looked up at her.
 
“No need to
get dramatic, dear.
 
Let me see what
I can do.”
 
She began clicking away
at her keyboard.
 
Sophie noticed the
desk area behind where Kelsey sat was filled with a variety of different pirate
figurines.
 

“Ok, I can get you ten minutes with him on
September 28th.
 
How’s that?”

“No, that’s way too far out.
 
My deadline is this week.
 
Is he here now? Can’t I just pop
in?
 
I’ll only be a few minutes.”
 
Sophie turned around, looking for the
door leading to Dean Armstrong’s office.

Kelsey stood up and waved her knitting
needles like a sword.
 
“Now, now,
there’ll be none of that.
 
Not on my
watch.
 
No one is allowed in without
an appointment.
 
Boss’s orders, and
I follow them strictly.”

Sophie took a step back.
 
Was this woman crazy?

“Besides,” Kelsey sat back down and resumed
her knitting work, “He isn’t here.
 
Dr. Armstrong is at Oceanview Medical Center until very late in the
day.”

“Look,” Sophie pleaded.
 
She was near tears, but trying to hold
it together.
 
“I really need to talk
with him.
 
I’m desperate.
 
I’ll come in any time, no matter how
early or late.”

Kelsey looked back up at her.
 
“I’m sorry dear.
 
Really.
 
The Dean is booked months in advance.
 
I’d like to help you, and you seem like
a nice girl, but my hands are tied.”

Sophie’s face must have reflected her
despair.

Kelsey made a tsking sound and set her
needles down to click back on her keyboard.
 
“Look, this isn’t official, but his last
meeting today ends at 7:00 p.m.
 
Dean Armstrong usually leaves directly afterwards and heads to his car
in the D-1 parking lot.
 
Anyone
could be down there at that time by coincidence, couldn’t they?”

Sophie smiled.
 
“Thanks.
 
I appreciate the unofficial information.”
 
She turned and exited the office
quickly, anxious to leave Dean Armstrong’s odd assistant behind.

Chapter
Three

That night, Sophie staked out the D-1 parking
garage.
 
She ducked low in the seat
of her old Ford Focus with the lights off.
 
Sophie hoped Kelsey Briar hadn’t lied to her about the Dean’s schedule
in order to get rid of her.
 
She
didn’t know which car was the Dean’s, but it was late late and there weren’t
many left in the garage.
 
Sophie
laughed at herself in disgust.
 
Sophie couldn’t decide whether she felt like a private investigator on a
stakeout or a complete and utter idiot.
  
“I can’t believe what my life has
turned into,” she said aloud, stifling the urge to burst into hysterical
giggles.

Sophie waited for an hour.
 
She was close to giving up when she
spotted the tall, dark, familiar figure of Dean Armstrong exiting the garage
doors.
 
He walked to a flashy sports
car.
 
Before she could react, he’d
hopped in and drove away.

“Shit!” she said aloud as she turned over her
engine and sped off in pursuit.
 
“I’ll have to follow him.”

Sophie got lucky and caught site of the
Dean’s deep-red Porsche at the next stoplight.
 
She held back a few spaces and causally
followed him through the winding streets to an affluent neighborhood near the
university.
 
It was the type of
old-money area Sophie could only dream of living in.
 
The neighborhood was light years from
the modest, working-class, neighborhood where she grew up.

She held back even further as they got into a
completely residential street.
 
Sophie pulled into an obviously newly renovated mid-century modern
home.
 
It’s sleek lines, floor to
ceiling windows, and immaculate landscaping stood out even in the darkening
Seattle evening.
 
Sophie pulled to
the side of the road about five houses away and watched him exit his car.

She got out of the car to make her move when
she noticed she wasn’t the only woman waiting for him on the sidewalk outside
the Dean’s house.
 
A tall brunette
wearing a designer overcoat and five-inch, spike heels was walking towards him
from the shadows of the driveway.
 
The glamorous woman reached the Dean and threw herself into his arms,
wrapping around him like an octopus.

“Damnit!
 
He’s meeting his
girlfriend
.”
 
Sophie’s heart dropped.
 
Losing her opportunity to confront Dean
Armstrong tonight was disappointing, especially since she conducted an hours
long stakeout, but Sophie also felt an unaccountable stab of something that
felt an awful lot like jealousy.
 
“Stop being silly,” she admonished herself.
 
“Its not over.
 
Now I know where the Dean lives. I can
confront him tomorrow.”

She returned to her car.
 
As she pulled out, Sophie realized in
order to exit the neighborhood on the narrow one-way street she would have to
drive past the Dean’s house.
 
Sophie
tried not to stare as she went by, but couldn’t help herself.
 
She was surprised to see Dean Armstrong
and the woman engaged in a heated argument.

Sophie smiled smugly.
 
“Good,” she thought.
 
Then Sophie chastised herself.
 
What the Dean did in his private life
was none of her business.

***

Sophie couldn’t fall asleep, even though she
was exhausted from working a grueling
twelve hour
shift.
 
Sophie’s brain wouldn't stop
spinning.
 
She was consumed with
thoughts of her termination and upcoming confrontation with the Dean.
 
Sophie turned over and looked at the
clock.
 
It was 1:00 a.m.
 
She’d been tossing and turning for over
an hour.
 
Her sheets were a tangled
mess.
 

“I’ll talk to the Dean tomorrow,” she
thought.
 
“After my shift, I’ll
stake out his house.
 
He can’t have
a woman waiting for him every night.”
 
Although Sophie wasn’t so sure about that.
 
Dean Armstrong was seriously hot.

Since sleep was eluding her, Sophie allowed
herself to examine the Dean’s appeal.
 
He was a triple threat: intellectually appealing, physically attractive,
and a philanthropist.
 

The Dean was a brilliant and charismatic
physician and researcher.
 
Sophie
made a point of attending Grand Rounds when the he was speaking.
 
This past week, Dean Armstrong presented
his ideas on adapting operating room techniques for spinal surgery in third
world countries, where operating rooms were essentially non-existent.
 
Although spinal surgery was outside of
her specialty, Sophie found his cutting edge ideas intriguing.

The Dean was also an exceedingly handsome
man.
 
He was tall with a strong
jawline, classic Roman features, piercing blue eyes, full-lips, and thick black
hair.
 
The Dean’s love of the
outdoors was well known, and his extracurricular activities served to keep his
physique rock hard.

At the beginning of her residency, during the
First Year Resident Retreat, Sophie was treated to an up close and personal
demonstration of the Dean’s chiseled body.
 
Dean Armstrong was an avid rock-climber and hosted an introductory
rock-climbing course for interested attendees.
 

Despite having no interest in rock climbing,
Sophie had attended the course.
 
She
recalled that the Dean had worn standard rock climbing gear, tight pants and a
sleeveless performance t-shirt.
 
The
outfit highlighted Dean Armstrong’s broad chest, muscled arms and perfectly
sculpted backside.
 
All the female
residents had taken notice of the remarkable difference between the tailored
business-suit wearing Dean and the hot Pacific Northwest mountain man.

Sophie had listened to him with interest as
he explained the mechanics of rock climbing.
 
After his presentation, Dean Armstrong
assisted the residents with their equipment.
 
The female attendees seemed to require
the most help.
 
Sophie could swear
they were tangling their harnesses on purpose.

The Dean noticed Sophie struggling with her
equipment, and came over to assist.
 
He knelt at her feet and secured the buckles of Sophie’s harness high on
her inner thighs.
 
Recalling the
sight of the Dean at her feet, with his hand close to her core, made Sophie
break out in a sweat.
 
He smelled so
good, like pine trees, musk and something indefinable all mixed together.
 
When Dean Armstrong ran his hand around
the edge to make sure the strap was snug, she had felt a swift stab of
arousal.
 
Her nipples tightened
under her form fitting workout bra top.
 

Although she had ached to feel his fingers
higher, pressing against her rapidly moistening folds, Sophie had suppressed
the urge to act on it.
 
He was out
of her league.
 
Also, lusting after
the Dean or, god forbid, having an affair with him would not be good for her
budding career.
 
Relationships
between junior and senior faculty with direct reporting relationships were
forbidden.

“Of course,” Sophie thought, “Thinking about
him wasn’t against the rules.”
 

           
She
closed her eyes and replayed the scene in her mind.
 
After securing the leg harness, Dean
Armstrong reached around Sophie’s midriff to secure the buckle at her
waist.
 
His warm hand grazed the
underside of her breast. Sophie wondered if it was accidental.
 
What if his hand had just moved a little
higher up?
 
Sophie found herself
breathing harder just imagining it.
 
She used her own hands and cupped her breasts, imagining they were the
Dean’s.
 
Would he be gentle or
rough?
 
Sophie rolled her own
nipples between her fingers until they hardened.
 
The Dean would know just the right
balance of when to be soft and when to be hard.
 
Sophie continued to tease her sensitive
peaks.
 
She imagined the Dean’s wet
mouth on her nipples, sucking them.
 
Sophie moaned.

She let her hand drift down her flat stomach,
to the area between her thighs, as she imagined the Dean moving his attentions
lower.
 
Sophie was aching and
aroused.
 
She ground her hips into
her bed, not yet touching herself, drawing out the feeling of
anticipation.
 
Sophie’s core was
dripping wet.
  

           
In
Sophie’s imagination, the Dean would first cup her damp center, allowing her to
get used to the feel of his touch on her most intimate place.
 
After petting her, he would slowly press
one finger in, drawing it out and gently running it up and down the slick folds
of her sex.
 
Sophie’s finger
followed her imagination.
 
She moaned
again.
 
Sophie continued the soft
touches, working her finger over and over, up and down, careful not to touch
her clitoris yet.
 
She began to
throb there and felt herself getting wetter and wetter.
 

           
Her
vivid imagination made the fantasy seem real.
 
Sophie could feel the heat radiating
from Dean Armstrong’s body and the erotic press of his weight as the Dean
positioned himself above her.
 
He
kept his fingers working while his mouth explored Sophie’s stomach with slow
licks.
 
The Dean alternated tongue
lashes with playful nips at the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, returning
to Sophie’s breasts to suck deeply on her nipples and the flesh surrounding
them.
  

           
The
Dean pressed a second finger inside Sophie’s sex, causing her to writhe in
pleasure at the increased sense of fullness.
 
He steadily pumped his fingers in and
out, increasing the pressure with each stroke.
 
He caressed Sophie inside until she was
crazed with want.
 
Begging him to
finally touch the spot she needed him the most.
 
Finally, after what seemed like endless
torture, he moved his fingers, slippery with her wetness, to the tight bundle
of nerves at her very center.

           
Sophie
gasped out loud in pleasure as she stroked herself there.
 
She imagined the Dean’s fingers rubbing
her clit slowly, then faster and harder, then faster, then slowly again.
 
Sophie stroked in time to her fantasy,
feeling the pressure building deep inside of her.
 
She used her free hand to suppress her
scream of ecstasy.
 
He caressed her
tight bud with gentle touches, increasing to strong lashes.
 
Sophie felt his tongue inside of
her.
 
She panted in exertion, riding
her fingers.
 
Sophie felt herself
getting closer and closer to going over the edge.
 
She increased her rhythm.
 

           
The
Dean began moving his hand faster, rubbing circles around Sophie’s clitoris and
driving her higher and higher.
 
He
did it again.
 
And again.
 
Sophie cried out.
 
She felt her peak crash into her, as
wave after wave of pleasure washed over her.
 
Sophie rode it out until it receded
gently away, and little by little her breathing slowed and her heart rate
lowered.
 
Sophie stretched her arms
up and breathed in deeply.
 
She was
finally relaxed.

           
“That
should take the edge off,” Sophie thought contentedly.
 
She snuggled into her covers and closed
her eyes.
 
Sophie was sound asleep
in minutes.